Very good, HI - that one was a bit tricky to assign to a speaker! Your turn!

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

OK, we've already added Roverandom to the list - is that enough, or do we need more?

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

Nice clue, HI, but not so very helpful when I don't know in which minor work to start searching - or if I even have the work from which it's taken. Has it been mentioned in the above list? If not, how about a complete (new) list of the works which we are using now? Thanks!

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

Farmer Giles of Ham
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Leaf by Niggle
Smith of Wootton Major
On Fairy Stories
Mythopoeia
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Father Christmas Letters
The Monsters and the Critics
Roverandom
<font color="FFF013">The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
A Secret Vice

OK, that hint was quite clear, thanks! I don't have The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun anywhere (can you tell me where it's been published?), but I do have a brief summary of it in Tom Shippey's J.R.R.Tolkien: Author of the Century, so I can make an educated guess. The speaker is the Corrigan, speaking to Aotrou.

Wow, you did find a very obscure work there, HI! [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

I found this interesting site listing other Tolkien writings. I thought it might be of some interest to all posting on this thread... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
I might start a new topic conserning this list in the Books forum too.

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Despair is only for those
who see the end beyond all doubt.

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

I was on the wrong track at first, looking for this quote in Roverandom, but now I discovered that it's in one of our old favorites, Farmer Giles of Ham! It's the parson, speaking of Giles' sword.

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

Right you are, alaklondewen, and welcome to the thread! It's nice to have another new face here with us in our little barrow! Now you may try to stump the rest of us! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

That was a rather generic quote, Bruce, so it took some widespread searching to find it. Those words were spoken by the blacksmith, with his usual cheery optimism [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] , in Farmer Giles of Ham.

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

...drrrrrrrummmmrrrrrooooolllllllll.......
and the Oscar goes to - Sir Squatter! Proceed at will!

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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'